Robbing The Cradle
by Orokid
Summary: Hermione and her husband have issues with having children, and so Harry, her physician, wishes to help her with that problem...


**Orokid**_: I wrote this off of a challenge on just because I could (lol), and thought that it might be a fun idea. And, thus, the story took form after reading a chapter of someone else's try at the same challenge. So… here's my rendition of the first chapter for whoever cares, and I hope everyone like it._

**Disclaimer**_: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters I have mentioned in this fanfiction that have been mentioned at least once by RK Rowling. Obviously, those belong to her, so I can't really claim them, can I? Anyway, the chorus line that I mention is from a song "It Could've Been Me" by Billy Ray Cyrus. If I actually could write music, I would have used my lyrics, now wouldn't I?_

**Robbing the Cradle**

**Chapter One**

_The Bearer Of Bad News_

Harry hadn't a thing to say when he had watched the two people he had put on his 'least likely to see me' list walk right through his door, and he knew better than to speak when his words didn't mean a thing to them. Over the many years of living at the Dursleys, he had found himself keeping his mind to himself rather than letting the words burst from his lips- and he found that, in the profession he had eventually chosen throughout his years of adulthood, keeping his mouth shut was the best thing he could do for some people.

But that didn't change the fact that **they** were here, and what they were doing in his office about now.

To tell the truth, he hadn't much seen his closest friends since the war had ended two years ago, proclaiming him the hero of the world and the defender of justice- two things that he never quite enjoyed. After vanquishing the evil that was, he had felt spent, and he truly never wished to touch his wand again- but he had to, so just to make a living rather than live off the funds his deceased parents had left behind, and they did too. Thus, their lives had somehow disconnected to a point where even owling had become hard upon one another.

Hell, he hadn't even been there when she had said yes to her groom, a muggle who loved her despite the entire hubbub about magic being unsaintly and the such in a world that didn't believe in matters like that. And, being the man who had stood beside her through thick and thin, one might say he had felt a little mad over the arrangement, but that didn't mean he couldn't just forgive and forget about the whole ordeal. She was his closest friend since he could remember even having friends at all, and that was all that mattered.

Shaking his head, he forced a smile upon his face, knowing that today would be the day he would meet the man who had given her so much happiness over the past two years or so. Truthfully, he had been so stacked with work for his new job that she barely crossed his mind-

At least, she rarely ever did, unless the hours were of midnight or later, leaving him awake, mourning the loss of a chance he should have taken.

"So… what does the happiest couple on Earth have to tell me today?" he asked them, although his mind mentally cursed him for sounding so happy when the last thing he had wanted to hear from them was good news. He swore to himself, although very lightly considering the fact that he'd never do it, that he would throw himself off a building if she said that she was pregnant. "Good news, I hope?" _Liar_, he told himself angrily, but the smile stayed in place despite it. If anything, he would go out with a grin on his features, without her knowing just how much pain he was in when watching her laugh or knowing just how happy she was.

For a moment, he only reflected back on a song that he had heard when he had been studying his new profession in the western side of the United States.

_It could have been me standing there with you  
It could have been me and my dreams coming true  
But those dreams move on if you wait too long  
It took me till now to see it could have been me_

He closed his eyes, forcing the lyrics from his mind the best he could without causing a disruption of some sort. But, like everything in his life, the words haunted him in a way that he could only wish for a dying day right at that moment. Instead of opening them and returning to his façade, he turned to face the wall, his heart heavy as he played with the frame of his degree from Hogwarts.

"Harry… you're the only one we can count on right now?" he heard her say to him, and he held back his tongue from firing the words 'why? Is your boyfriend being haunted by the police or something?' towards her. She didn't need that sort of talk. Not when her voice sounded so desperate and needy, and not while she was begging her best friend oh-so silently to help her with it.

For some reason, she knew just how much that alone got through to him than anything else. In mere moments, his eyes were upon her, watching her with fear in his emerald fields, his heart racing with a mournful beat. Why did she have to have such a hold upon him? "What is it? What can I do for you?"

"Well…" She looked away, as if embarrassed about the subject that she needed so much help with, and he knew that it had to be a private matter. Never once, in their seven years of close friendship, did they ever mention anything to do with marriage or the such, let alone what happens to a girl during that time of the month. The only time he and Ron did was to blame a woman who had just gone off on them for no exact reason for her unneeded actions.

The man beside her, who seemed to be holding her hand so gently, as a man in love would do (and Harry had to sigh to himself as a small hope within him began to float away), seemed to know when to take the initiative. His raven colored hair had been cut short, almost like Harry had it when he had been in his third year, and his hazel eyes seemed to glimmer with the sadness that were in the man's lover's eyes- the woman the Man-Who-Defeated cared for with all his heart. "You see… Mister Potter, correct?" The twenty year old nodded in return, telling him that that was his name. "'Mione and I have been to all the doctors in my world, and… we still can't… well, have…" His answer trailed, but, with the information given, Harry could figure just where this conversation was going.

And a sad smile, withholding the pain that erupted through him at the mere idea of her not having the happiness she wanted, came onto his thin lips. "I'll do all I can, Hermione. Your happiness means a lot to me, and, if helping you conceive will make you happy, I'll do it." He grinned sheepishly, unable to help himself from doing so. "Free of charge, of course. I mean, what's a friend in the medical business for if he can't give a couple like you two some help, right?"

Before he could let out a single chuckle, he felt her arms surround him tightly, and he only held onto her in a hope to never let go again. His heart was crying, tearing itself apart over the heartache he was going through, just for telling her that all he wished for was her happiness with another man. He knew that it might seem strange now, considering how he would've done anything for her to do so a few years ago.

"Thank you so much, Harry!"

He let his mask falter a little as he heard the words, and he nodded, taking in the scent of her hair for the first time in too long. His arms held her tightly, wrapped around hers as a child would hold onto his mother after a nightmare- and this was surely close enough to be a nightmare to him.

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Harry looked over the paperwork that had been sketched out over the last half an hour, looking towards the results of all the work he had done for her and her beloved- against his every being, of course. Still, he knew that it was his job to go over the diagnostics and share either the good or bad news with the couple he had been assigned to- or, in this case, chosen.

And he only sat down into his chair, a frown upon his face as he pushed up his lenses closer to his eyes. It was as though he didn't think he could see the information right, or as though he might've gotten the wrong tests, but, of course, he hadn't. All the information before him were the true diagnostics that the man and wife before him wanted to know. The only thing was, in this half-an-hour of waiting, he truly didn't wish to be the one to share the news.

But, like everything he had done in his life, he knew that he had to.

"Hermione, there seem to be little to no problem with your vaginal area or your fallopian tubes." He flipped through the magicked papers, doing his best from continuing on. If she heard what he had to say next, he knew that she would be crushed by the news, and that was the last thing he would ever want.

Seemingly, she still knew to pick up upon his nervous habits- especially when that was the last thing he wished to say. And much faster than her dear husband did, to tell the truth. "So… That means…" Her eyes filled with tears immediately, and she was hesitant to continue the sentence- and, right then and there, Harry found himself despising the job he had once enjoyed. The news, like he had thought it would, was causing her so much harm, and he just wished that he could make her pain for away.

"Mister Drake, yes?" Harry turned to her husband, his features serious, and the man only nodded at the name- and the Man-Who-Defeated noticed right then when he had gave his wife's hand a gentle squeeze.

"Call me David, if you would", he told him, although it was obvious that he was nervous beyond belief over the tests and what information had come out of it.

"David, then", the twenty year old healer repeated, trying his hardest not to stress the two syllable name. His heart was clenching in his chest, and there was just no stopping the information from leaving him now. "I'm sorry, but under no possibility can magic help the problem. You alone are unable to have any children." Immediately, he watched as the male across from him lowered his head, closing his eyes in depression, probably wondering how this could happen to him. "I'm so very sorry to have to share this news with you, but… please do accept my apologies- as a physician and as your wife's best friend since our school going years." His mind tried screaming 'liar' at him again, but he couldn't even get that much out of him. Even though he did feel as though his apology had been misplaced, Harry Potter did feel sorry to have to deliver the message to the two of them at once.

David Drake slowly stood, letting go of his wife's hand gently, slowly, and then placed his hand on her shoulder. By a mere glance alone, they both seemed to understand that he needed a moment alone so to get it through his mind- and Harry once more found himself yearning for that relationship with this extraordinary young woman all over again, like he had as a child.

As the door closed, the duo was alone, one close to crying and the other staying quiet for her sake. But he knew that he couldn't hold his tongue any longer- not in her presence, at least. "I'm so sorry, Hermione. I… I wish that there was something I could do to help you."

And, with that, the young woman began to bawl all of her depression, and he walked around his desk and wrapped his arms around her, allowing her tears to flow out upon him- the bearer of bad news.

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**Orokid**_: So… what do you guys think? Think I did a good job at the challenge? Tell me what you think in a review, and tell me about your thoughts about my fanfiction while you're at it. Lol._

_In other words, REVIEW!_


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